The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of wireline and wireless networks. Computer networks, television networks, and telephony networks are experiencing an unprecedented technological expansion, fueled by consumer demand. Wireless and mobile networking technologies have addressed related consumer demands, while providing more flexibility and immediacy of information transfer.
This explosive growth of mobile communications networks has followed the evolution of mobile devices, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other portable electronic devices from luxury items to ubiquitous devices integrated into the everyday lives of individuals from all walks of life. The widespread adoption of mobile devices, and the expanding capabilities of the wireless networks over which they communicate, has allowed for a tremendous expansion in the applications which mobile devices are capable of executing. In addition to providing for phone service, many mobile devices now execute applications such as email retrieval, web browsing, web feed services, navigation services through the use of GPS, camera and video capturing, digital music and video playback. In some instances, users may be unaware applications are running processes in the background to provide services to the user. These and other applications may also interface with networks to transmit and receive data for a user.
While this expansion in the applications of mobile devices has been revolutionary, the added applications do have drawbacks. For example, each additional application executed by a mobile can also have corresponding power consumption. Additionally, users may not appreciate the power consumption and processing consumption associated with these applications, since many applications may include processes running in the background. As such, overall power consumption of mobile terminals is becoming increasingly problematic for users because batteries are draining at increasing rates. Further, while power utilization is rapidly increasing on mobile terminals, the power storage capacity of mobile devices, i.e., the power storage capacity of batteries, is remaining constant or increasing at a relatively slower pace. Applications that make continuous attempts to retrieve data such as email, web feeds, or other web content can cause substantial reductions in battery levels when considered in the aggregate. The increased and variable power consumption associated with these applications can present problems to users in that batteries can drain at increasingly rapid rates.
Additionally, the increasing number of applications being utilized by mobile terminals is also impacting network resources. For example, an email client may download email to a mobile terminal at some regular interval consuming network during each download. Further, other applications, such as web feeds and various widgets, may also be downloading and/or uploading data across the network consuming resources. Each of these applications also consumes a corresponding portion of the network's resources. In the aggregate, these applications can have significant impacts. As a result latency and quality of service can be detrimentally affected.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide methods, apparatuses, and computer program products that limit power consumption and impact to the network, but also provide for the needs and wants of users. In particular, in would be advantageous to provide applications for electronic devices that are power and network resource conscious, but continue to provide a user with a level of service that is acceptable to the user.